Healthcare Information Technology

In the first two weeks of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services incentive program, $75 million was paid out in bonuses for the meaningful use of electronic medical records.

CMS announced mid-May that more than 300 physicians, hospitals and other eligible EMR users qualified for the first stage of the meaningful use incentive program and received payments.

Starting April 18, physicians could begin requesting the bonus pay, also known as the attestation period. They could go online and submit the required information to show CMS they had met the required clinical objectives for a consecutive 90-day period.

Physicians and hospitals have until the end of next year to attest and still receive the maximum $44,000 bonus over a consecutive five-year period. Stage 2 of the incentive program is scheduled to begin in 2013 but could be delayed until 2014 as criteria are still being drafted. For the second stage, physicians will have to meet criteria for a period of one consecutive year.

The Medicaid incentive program, which is facilitated by each state’s Medicaid office, started in January. Eligible doctors can receive as much as $63,750 over six years.

As of May, $83.3 million had been dispersed by seven states. Not all 50 states have programs up and running yet. Fifteen states have established programs, with more expected to launch later this year.